Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Triple cocktail of doom

Can I get a "radio"?!

RADIO!

Can I get a "records"?!

RECORDS!

Can I get a "newspaper"?!

NEWSPAPER!

What's that spell?!

R.I.P!!!

And that's the "dead and gone" of it. When you have a newspaper dedicated to covering radio and the record industry, and then you count on selling it -- for a hefty subscription fee -- to people in those two woebegone industries, you're pretty much toast.

JUST LIKE Radio & Records, dead of a terminal business model after a 36-year run. Here's what passes for an obit in The Tennessean:

Radio & Records, a major music industry trade publication, announced plans to close on Wednesday (June 3) citing the current economic climate as the reason.

Founded in 1973, R&R is headquartered in Los Angeles and was acquired in 2006 by VNU, a company that also owns Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter. VNU changed its name to the Nielsen Company in 2007.

Billboard and R&R publisher Howard Applebaum met with R&R employees in Los Angeles at noon Wednesday and told them the publication was closing. More than 40 employees lost their jobs, including at least one in Nashville.
IT'S BRUTAL out there. Good night, and good luck.

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